Administration officials said they expect the fight over using the wartime act to ultimately head to the Supreme Court.

The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations under an 18th century wartime declaration targeting Venezuelan gang members.

The Trump administration has deported alleged members of a Venezuelan gang from the U.S. despite a court order forbidding it from doing so, saying in an extraordinary statement that a judge did not have the authority to block its actions.